The drama and the fight against asbestos between cinema and the web

by Eleonora Anello

3000 deaths among former workers and ordinary citizens. 20 years in prison each requested by the prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello charged to the senior executives of the multinational Eternit, accused of "intentional disaster and lack of safety measures and precautions". This is the tragic story of one of the greatest environmental crimes at the hands of an industry that knew but kept quiet in the name of profit.

Those of us who take care of daily environmental communication have been very impressed by the fervour and the social cohesion arisen, after 30 years of silence, among the population of the affected areas.

In the intense wish of justice that meanders among the public opinion, art, in its various forms, plead the case, especially since there was the certainty that there are civilian casualties involved, meaning people that have never set foot in 63 Oggero Street, the base of Eternit in Casale. It has thus been seen an unprecedented explosion in information and communication, with the hope that the issue would have gained the proper visibility. And so it was.

One of the pieces most appreciated by audiences and critics is Polvere (dust), whose central theme is the asbestos,. The video-documentary by Niccolò Bruna and Andrea Prandstraller was awarded 2 prizes at the International Festival of Cinemambiente and, in recent days, one prize at the Euganea Film Festival.

The documentary film has drawn by “Asbestos in the dock”, a social networking project born in parallel and operated by Niccolò Bruna for the Association of Asbestos Victims (Afeva) of Casale Monferrato, aiming at highlighting all the heritage of information generated by research and enhancing and extending the message of the international civil battle. «The history of the process is a collective story - the author explains - a story where many people contribute to information and, through their narrative, complement the story. The pristine idea was to make a weekly report about the process and also to collect useful information for the documentary. In a short time, Asbestos in the dock was able to mobilize people who would not have been reached by the mainstream media, because their coverage is limited to the highlights of the process. Internet not only has been instrumental in helping to spread beyond the Italian borders the information needed to keep alive the international mobilization (on 2009 April 6th, the first day of the hearing, many foreign associations were present) but it has also encouraged the participation of the members. Thanks to the web there is indeed the possibility that a different kind of information will reach a better quality and a higher coverage than traditional media. The strength of the project is that it deals with a very specific and local issue; however, that attracts global interest. The media look at the spectacular side and not at the substantial one, but in Turin there is a process that can become a milestone for the issue of corporate social responsibility: it is a symbolic issue even more important than the process itself».

To repeat the eloquent words of the three prosecutors who are handling the case in Turin, it is a "huge disaster" that sees “as main allegorical accused asbestos", but whose devastating effects on workers and citizens are due to the conscious conduct of the two accused, which for years has been based on a single vile and despicable strategy: the non-communication of risks.
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Music is energy

by Eleonora Anello

Music as a means to spread environmental awareness? Of course it is, when its use has low environmental impact.

A study of the Observatory on environmental sustainability and music, commissioned by Edison in collaboration with Renato Mannheimer ISPO, has shown once again that in Italy we declare ourselves in favor of the environment but then we do little to protect it. 70% of the sample says they are very sensitive to environmental issues, although 39% does not implement any environmentally sustainable behavior.

From the published data it appears that the bigger problems are in the field of public transport. Very few manage to do without their cars to get to a musical event. And there's more. Some genres are greener than others: the most virtuous are those who love classical music, while the black jersey goes to the metal heads.

In this light, Edison, to spread a music more in line with the environment and develop a culture of sustainability and energy conservation in this area, decided to do its part by launching Edison-Change the Music, a contest addressed to emerging bands. Who will prove to be more environmentally friendly will open the concert by Jon Bon Jovi in Udine, July 17th. The project has been joined by several members of the musical world including Piero Pelù, Elio e le Storie Tese, Enrique Iglesias, Annie Lennox, Omar Pedrini.

"There are many ways of doing business - said Andrea Prandi, director of external relations of Edison - With this project we believe that we can tie the theme of energy to that of environment conservation. Along with Legambiente we intend to convey to as many people as possible a message that encourages the sustainable use of energy resources. We chose music as a mean of communication, both in its popular expression and through more educated music. Indeed, we are also sponsor of the Prima della Scala. Edison-Change the Music has also become partner of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign promoted by the European Commission: this is a source of great pride for us".

If one energy company focuses on young people, another relies on stars, going on with well-tested projects. We are talking about Enel that, after the success of Safari Tour 2008, renews its collaboration with Lorenzo Jovanotti. "Ora in Tour Lorenzo Live 2011 - Music CO2 neutral" is a series of concerts across Italy, which began last April and will conclude at the end of this year. Its aim is to neutralize the emissions of the musical event with a program of reforestation and development in Cameroon. Each individual viewer may also directly participate in the initiative through the Compenso Positivo website, through which you can enter a raffle for a tree and give it its name.

"The collaborative project with Jovanotti -Enel says- is fully integrated in the commitment of the company to promote sustainability through a process that involves the use of renewable sources in energy production, the use of new technologies in the reduction and storage of emissions, measures of efficiency and energy-saving, the use of products with low environmental impact, information and awareness campaigns on the consumption of energy. In particular, the beginning of the tour of the singer coincides with the launch of "CO2 Neutral", the new Enel brand that identifies the services of Carbon Neutrality. Indeed we have been active for a long time in the volunteer market of the footprints for a wide range of services. Events, campaigns, sales of energy and other initiatives can be neutralized through innovative activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing in a concrete way to improve the life on the planet and to the fight against climate change".

For years, however, environmental groups have tried to highlight other truths on the production of Enel. So much that some singers have decided to side with the citizens who pay the consequences dramatically. In August 2010, during the event Correnti Musicali, Simone Cristicchi, pressed by the environmentalists, refused to sing in the coal plant "Federico II" of Cerano (BR), which is not surprisingly dubbed “the plant of death", because it not only affects the beautiful landscape of Salento, hitting its tourism, but also keeps claiming victims among the inhabitants of the district. A dossier of Legambiente of 2007 has shown that the kindly-named plant, a true eco-monster that is located on the beautiful Adriatic beaches, produces over one third of total national emissions.

All this ambivalence between what is communicated and what is done can only create doubts and confusion.
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Councillor’s secrets

by Daniela Zannetti

The human anthropic pression on environment and natural resources, in addiction to destruction of ecosystems, can generate threat against citizens health. Some environmental policies seek a reduction of the impact, acting on the waste disposal cycle. That’s the case of Rossella Zadro, Ferrara environmental councillor, which explains her initiatives on “reciprocity” for the reduction of garbage production, or composting to valorize organic matter without combustion.

Ferrara city councillor Rossella Zadro's "mutual" ambiental policies says «What keeps terms between entity and territories it's not money, whose create gradients, but is the "gift" that generate a common reciprocity». Zadro explains: «Recovering unsold goods at the end of the day, giving those to associations, helps to keep down the ammount of waste destined to dump». Zadro also support the idea of giving a TIA discount to sellers to gain a beneficial “gift” exchange for everyone implicated (Andrea Segrè’s Last Minute Market). «Or the recovery of still usefull drugs thanks to a public and private partership: universities, phamarcies and local governs , this operation allows a saving of 110 thousands euros on drugs and provide univeristary students formation credits. The result of this operation also gives to pharmaceutical companies the possibility of changing their "blister". We would like that companies are going to modify their production on the promise of wastage reduction».

“XI commandment should be: do not waste", a policy without hesitations for keeping up the demand of "ambient" from citizens. Like the "No" at Linea2 by multiutility Hera implant (waste and energy, water services) that were destined to burn 45 thousands Tons of biomass waste. «Mayors and municipalities should cleaning the air from the products of combustion- says the councillor- particulate matter (PM) emissions from Hera were destined to impact on an area already occupied by a petrolchimical implant and by a incinerator that dispose 130 thousand Tons of garbage».

It's a recent news: the petrolchimical implant will get a magistrature controlled activity after a citizens petition. A monitored territory where recovery is every day duty, even Hera is getting a tweak to reduce even more the emission that now are 10 times under the law's limits. «We cannot compute the social cost in terms of pubblic health wherever pollution is not controlled - explains Zadro who adds - Our rapports with Hera are good but even if burning biomasses is provided by the Regional Waste Plan we are shocked from the fact that in Bologna (Hera Ambiente) decisions are made by technicians without any policy evaluation. We work so hard on our the separate collection because we want it to be enhanced as compost and not as mere energy. Without this efforts we wouldn't give the 15% discount on the waste collection tax to those who practice composting, helping to reduce organic waste».

«Keeping in mind that we don't get any help from the national regulation, we designed some other projects with addictional TIA discount to merchants who utilize bulk water. We produce about 719 Kg pro capita garbage, with an experimental policy in a small area outside the center of the city, we detected a reduction of about 105Kg pro capita garbage which 45% is umid-organic waste. We distributed 1819 composters to citizens which 1270 of them asked for the discount, but we will proceed with some verification to assure there will not be pressures only on paying citizen. In our three-year plan with Hera- keep explaining Rossella - we setted some indicators to maintain and overcome the 65% separate collection law expected by 2012 on the 50% base achieved in 2010. Returning to Biomasses, there is an implant at Argenta, it's a short chain one and it's placed in open countryside. A 3MW impant in Ferrara would be unthinkable especially thinking there it would be a raise in truck traffic, already considerable, on the roads near the city».

Municipalities and national provinces should be doing universally recognized environmental pacts. Becoming low waste stakeholder with citizens. Agreeing on common ways between different administrations. Creating Life+ between Nord and South Italy Governs. Finally: building a sustainability net.
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Environment from limit to value. A political experience

by Roberto Cavallo

The pages of the book by Renzo Penna “Environment from limit to value", subtitled “political and administrative experienc "(Editori Riuniti University Press) are 540, but when you have finished them you realize that they could have been even more and you would not feel hard to read.

The tone that comes from the pages is the typical one of those who approach environmental issues: enthusiast!

I met Renzo Penna while he was in charge at the Province of Alessandria as Councillor for the Environment, accompanied by his skillful staff and I immediately understood the cultural approach that he wants to give to his political mandate, and perhaps the main ingredient of his suffered, but resolute resignation.

Yeah, because anyone who deals with environmental issues sighting beyond the electoral mandate and interpreting the essence of sustainable development – the one caged by the Brundtland definition of leaving their environment at least in the same conditions in which it was inherited - is likely to be misunderstood.

And that's what we read in the pages of Renzo Penna; of that environment that perhaps for a while has been a limit for him, but that has suddenly turned into a value: the value is much more than the price, because you cannot buy the value is can buy, you cannot sell it, you cannot discount!

This is the feeling that takes the reader who reads the chapters of the Water, sailing firstly the Orba river and its contract of the river, then from the Tanaro and Bormida rivers, overcoming the tragic events of chemical pollution of ACNA insdustry and the flooding of 1994.

The value of human health and life, infinitely superior than the profit, is what characterizes the dramatic chapter on Air and the paragraph on asbestos.

I find again in the pages of the chapter on waste the real footprint left by Renzo and his administrative experience, that I had the fortune to live professionally. The stubbornly insist on wanting a provincial waste plan based heavily on waste reduction and materials recovery through door-to-door waste separate collection, beyond the political difficulties, makes Justice to Renzo Penna for having pioneered the EU directive that calls Member States and local authorities to set their own programs and plans.

The imprinting of the councilor Penna does not stop at his pages, but fortunately it is directly on the territory, so much so that according to the latest official data of the Piedmont Region are at least thirty municipalities in the province that recycle more than 65% of its municipal waste and some municipalities such as Bassignana or Castelletto Monferrato that have greatly reduced their waste to landfill and throw only 65 kg per inhabitant per year, just that if everyone does this, the Province of Alessandria wouldn’t have problems of urban waste management.

I would like to close with a small editorial critic. I saw better the chapter “Ecolavori” (Green jobs) as the closure, after the chapter on energy because Ecolavori has been and continues to be a unique experience at the national level, as I think unique was also the administrative experience of Renzo Penna that is so well described in the book I invite you to read.
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At the end the journey of “Treno Verde”

by Eleonora Anello

A train to monitor the levels of noise and air pollution in the cities where the tour will stop and to disseminate environmental information. These are the ingredients of "Treno Verde” (Green Train), the historic campaign that since 1988 Legambiente carried out in collaboration with Italian State Railways with the participation of the Ministry of Environment, ANCI and, among others, the contribution of Telecom.

The initiative for this year has started from Syracuse March 12, 2011 and will end further North, in Genoa, tomorrow, after crossing nine cities.

This is a real laboratory that travels on rails. The train is full of environmental education initiatives. In fact, on coaches it is possible to visit interactive exhibits as well as to participate to conferences and public debates. During the stop 72 hours, the control units of the Experimental Institute of the State Railways are placed in strategic areas of the city to analyze the air to check quality and to collect data on noise pollution.

Dual objective of the campaign is to raise the public awareness and influence local government, in terms of quality of life. With the scientific data measured in real time, a confrontation, which covers various topics, is triggered: from the greenhouse effect to the climate changes; from the energy saving to the renewable energy; from the separate waste collection to the sustainable mobility; to the preservation of the artistic and cultural heritage.

Great importance is given to the relationship with the institutions. «The awareness of the individual together with a specific responsibility on the part of local governments can reverse this trend - Legambiente says - In every stage of the Treno Verde we will ask the mayors to sign a pact for the environment, an effort to bring into the field all possible actions to combat air pollution, energy waste, the impact of waste on the territory».

Poor communication often does not allow citizens to become aware of the real risks that face environment and health. Treno Verde helps to take participative initiatives to improve the sustainability of daily living. More...

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When also classic music is ecologic!

by Annalisa Audino

Who has told that the music is not ecological!?! The Festival MITO SettembreMusica (from 3 to 24 September 2010) confirms for the fourth edition its appointment in favor of the environment and communicates through one of the most exciting arts its message: all we can contribute to the respect and the improvement of the quality of life of our world.

The annulment of the issues produced by the Festival and the reduction of the environmental impact to the minimum is a concrete appointment in the energetic saving, in the appointment of the resources and the first subjects, in the reduction of the harmful issues and in the compensation of the produced CO2 thanks to the creation of new forests.

The organizers of the festival have asked for the appointment of all the partners, suppliers and musicians to sensitize the public and the institutions for a cleaner and respectful world. To compensate the issues of CO2 MitoSettembreMusica has sustained first of all the creation and guardianship of forests in growth in the Park Rio Vallone, in the Province of Milan, and in Madagascar, sticking to the project Impatto Zero of LifeGate. The two projects have a great scientific and social value: to contribute to the creation and guardianship of areas inside the Park Rio Vallone, to preserve a green lung in a territory strongly urbanized, and, in Madagascar, to maintain the ecological equilibrium typical of the place. Besides the international project foresees also the restructuring of the villages, of the road that brings in the city, of the electric net, the construction of a small dike that can bring water to the village, the digging out of wells to allow the cultivation of algae.

MITO SettembreMusica sustains also the reforestation of city green areas in Turin, through projects of reduction of the greenhouse emissions realized in developing countries: the issues of CO2 produced by the Turin edition of the Festival will be calculated with the support of Environment Park according to what anticipated from the norm ISO 14064-1, related to the declarations in subject of greenhouse effect, and certified by an independent third organism. For the calculated impact it will be predisposed in collaboration with Clean Planet, system developed by the group Asia, a project finalized to individualize opportune actions for the compensation of the emissions of CO2 residual lists in projects of Forestazione, projects CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) and Voluntary projects (Voluntary Emission Reductions.

MITO SettembreMusica is not the first initiative devoted to the environment through the music. Protagonists in the summer 2009 had already been the Street Academy with the project As it plays the chaos and Umbria Jazz with concerts of band that used recycled tools. In short it is time to change music, in all the senses, and to make some respect of the environment and the actions for it an essential foundation.
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Running for the environment!

by Eleonora Anello

Even the motorcycle can be environmentally friendly! What at first glance may seem a contradiction, LCR Honda has achieved through Ecostyle, the new ethics code particularly favorable to environment, which has allowed the known motorcycle brand, already last GP of Mugello in June, to compete without a trace.

Result of careful measurement of emissions produced in the previous championship, the new plan will be adopted by all staff. In addition to the emissions on the track, the estimate of the ecological footprint has included emissions from the production of tires for motorcycles; the electricity used in the box, in the structure hospitality and racing; the air travel of staff and those of cargo and trucks to transport the equipment needed to perform the work. It is calculated that in an only one season 1,500 tonnes of CO2 have been released.

To decrease a few percent of the environmental impact, the Honda has renewed its way of working: from new fleet of tractors for transportation equipment fitted with a feeding system hybrid that can fuel mix LPG to new LED lighting systems; from the use of environmentally friendly paper to the merchandising gadgets mainly made with recyclable material or otherwise low environmental impact. In addition, sorting waste will be performed in all host countries; cutlery and supplies made of compostable material as well as biodegradable detergents will be used; and, finally short commodity chain, especially for the food, will be preferred.

In short, although a highly energy-consuming and impacting society, Honda is working great pains to limit damage to the environment. So, that what can not be entered, will be compensated. To this end, an agreement was signed with First Flora, an organization that takes care of part of the Atlantic rainforest in the state of Bahia, Brazil, currently lost due to deforestation 92% of its original extent and from which the president Corrado Meotti speaks: «The initiative was created thanks to the contact with Alessandro Oliveto, CEO of Doctor Glass, a Honda LCR’s sponsorship company and already involved with First Flora since many years. The fact that a major house like Honda has decided to offset their emissions, tackling a project and a serious and rigid protocol as ours, it is essential to launch a new trend that we hope will be soon caught by the other brands participating in the Moto GP World Champion. The work of Flora First conducted in one of the world's richest in terms of biodiversity is obvious to all. Proof of this are the activities of reforestation, protection of cocoa cultivars and work-camp that annually organized by Legambiente in our estate. Whoever wants, can contact us for a wonderful experience working in the Brazilian jungle».

A clear message, addressed to all lovers of motorcycling, of complex implementing but surely ethical value. Ecostyle by Honda respecting the environment embodies a common operation that provides greater visibility and gain brand image. Lap after lap, while competing in a sustainable way, the plan is likely to appear in the eyes of most careful fledged greenwashing. More...

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The wounds of the Barrier Reef and the disappearance of the Aral Sea: two sides of the same coin

by Paolo Ghiga

On 3 April, the Chinese cargo Sheng Neng 1 of Cosco Group, with a load of assist tonnes of coal and 970 tonnes of oil, stalled at the Great Barrier Reef which stretches over two thousand kilometres along the coast of Queensland. Contains the initial loss of 3 tonnes of oil with dust and chemicals, high tide of 13 April reported the cargo on the waterline.
The hull of the ship has created a channel in the barrier plus 3 km long and up to 250 meters wide and fears they feed also paint of the same, highly toxic. The damage could be reabsorbed in 20 years, although the experts are for its irreversibility, also confirmed by catastrophic tones used by the international press. The Great Barrier Reef back media spotlight, and then, after the revelations of the journal Science, January 2009, State of health of its biodiversity threatened by climate change and whose growth would have fallen by 14% over the last 19 years, risking zeroing by 2050. These data alarmist blackening hope fueled, in part, the draft constantly barrier dating back some years ago.
In November 2007, the Foundation and the Politecnico of Milan (Italy), in collaboration with Turin Wireless and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, have realized a monitoring system to study the evolution of the barrier and the slightest environmental variation. A series of buoys, connected to a wireless network, transmit to a base station, for the subsequent revision, the data concerning temperature, salinity, brightness, etc. The future goal is make its negligible environmental impact through the miniaturization of buoys and creating the intelligent smart dust.

While enquiries of the Australian authorities, on the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is consumed the tragedy of the Aral Sea. The Soviet Government, at the conclusion of the second world war, practiced a wrong policy of intensive cultivation, and diverted the course of the two rivers that fuelled the Lake to irrigate cotton fields and the surrounding areas and drying the basins. It was the beginning of his slow agony. The project leader, Grigory Voropaev, stated that he wanted to sacrifice, in the name of agriculture, an "error of nature", as the Lake had a huge mass of water in an extremely poor area of water resources. The immense silted headline would have enabled a profitable rice cultivation. Herbicides and pesticides polluted the neighbouring territories, while the decline of the line the coast of 150 km in 40 years has revealed a graveyard of ships in a desert of sand and salt.
The geographical location, evaporation, and the winds blowing carrying sand contaminated by chemical agents, have contributed to the increase of serious respiratory and renal. Recently the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, shocked by the current situation, like many news agencies have stressed, has invited the Governments of neighbouring States to overcome old grudges to try to save at least part of the Salt Lake of oceanic origin.
A project of the World Bank and the Government of Kazakhstan led to the creation, in 2005, a barrier at Kokaral, on the north side of the Lake, driving in the small Aral River Syr Darya. Though encouraging, so that the media see it as a sort of miracle, the results are proved sufficient. In the South, which covers three quarters of the surface and borders with Uzbekistan, it continues with the intensive cultivation of rice and drillings, renouncing all useful. Satellite images show a decrease in the volume of 80% in the last three years: his fate has scored.

On the one hand decades of errors and neglect, on the other a handful of minutes and a risky maneuver: as the cut-off line of time man, persevering in its anthropocentric presumption despite the environment clearly shows the signs of his deep wounds. More...

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Slow holidays in Alta Badia

by Anna de Polo

Walking in nature and wild landscapes, doing outdoor sports, enjoying healthy food and relaxing away from the stress and pollution of the city: these are some of the ingredients of a holiday in the mountains as conceived by most of us. From this year in South Tyrol one more ingredient is proposed: deciding not to use the car for the duration of your stay. This is what expected by the initiative "Stop ma con gusto” (Stop but with taste), launched by the Tourist Consortium Alta Badia: who adheres to it must hand over on arrival the keys of his car, which will be symbolically sealed with a biodegradable band bearing the inscription "Stop ma con gusto”. In return he will receive a box of typical organic products and the repayment of the Mountain Pass, a card that allows you to use 12 summer lifts and the public transports to travel from one country to another and towards the Dolomite passes.The card also gives discounts on many facilities on the entrance to the ice stadium in Corvara, the public swimming pool, the cinema and much more. The aim of the initiative is to limit the traffic of cars in the valley, reducing both atmospheric and noise pollution, and to encourage visitors to experience their holiday in a simpler and healthier way, walking, cycling or using public transports. Easy to say but a little less to do, for those accustomed to using the car daily, but choosing to spend holidays in the mountains means choosing nature, sport and wellness and what more than traffic is enemy of all these three?

In Val Badia environmental sensitivity has become a tradition: investment in green building, biomass district heating, non-polluting lifts and recycling are just some of the choices that governments make every year in South Tyrol for the environment. Last April, for example, was launched the competition "Il prato più bello” (The most beautiful field), on the initiative of the provincial councilors Hans Berger and Michl Laimer, who explain:«The competition is much more than just a race, because in the year of biodiversity we wanted to draw attention to the significance of fields intact in their biodiversity, well-groomed and harmoniously incorporated into the landscape». Currently the participants are 150. Expired the deadline for entering the competition, the second stage involves the assessment of the fields, on the basis of various indicators such as site, biodiversity, use, structural diversity, size and more, while the award ceremony will take place in autumn.

But remaining in terms of "taste", this year the Tourist Consortium Alta Badia also offers, after the success of winter "Sciare con gusto” (Skiing with taste), the new summer trend “Peaks of Gastronomy”: a series of events that combine the pleasure of walking with that one of good food in some of the most beautiful places of the Dolomites, including three UNESCO World Heritage sites in June 2009. The program of the various proposals is full of ideas and tasty appointments, ranging from “Alta Badia Apenrosa aperitif”, aperitif with typical South Tyrolean products, every Thursday, to the “A taste for walking in Alta Badia”, at the alms with degustation, to the “Breakfast in the mountain refuge”, to enjoy the sunrise while enjoying local products.

If tourism is not just a "disposable" approach to the territory, but also a way to get in touch with nature and the people of a certain place, it is right that those who choose to stay in Alta Badia come into line with the South Tyrolean population and its strong environmental sensitivity. If they love and protect their natural environment, all the more so we should do it ourselves, which are only "guests", by abandoning our cherished car for a week or two. More...

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Free to copy

by Eleonora Anello

8101 copies of a documentary as a tool to push the Italian local government to reduce the environmental impact and improve the quality of life in their municipalities.

“Viaggio nell’Italia dei Comuni a 5 stelle” (Journey in the Commons to 5 stars) by Michele Dotti is a video-inquiry that shows the best practices of some local amministration that have decided to support the environment, the economy, the efficiency and the occupation of the territories that administer: put on DVD, was sent to the mayors of all the 8101 Italian municipalities, inviting them to implement what is shown in the movie.
The DVD is in fact a reservoir of environmental good practices, from which the mayors are encouraged to freely draw ideas and inspiration; a tool to publicize and disseminate an alternative model of society based on a logic different from that of unlimited growth that dominated the idea of development in recent decades and which put on the centre the people, its quality of life, its environment. Within the film will also see celebrities like Dario Fo and Beppe Grillo.

The campaign of spreading is performed by Marco Boschini assessor of planning for the territory (urban planning and environment) and for the heritage of Colorno (Parma) and coordinator of the Associazione dei Comuni Virtuosi (Association of virtuousirtuous Municipalities), an experience born from the idea of four mayors -Colorno (Parma), Melpignano (Lecce), Monsano (Ancona) and Vezzano Ligure (La Spezia) - that is spreading by word of mouth but mainly due to the results obtained and the credibility currently enjoyed by its promoters.
The "virtuous" have now become a movement that has attracted the attention of the media and of hundreds of thousands of professionals of the sector.

It’s in the planning stage the 2009 edition of Premio nazionale dei Comuni a 5 Stelle (National Award of Commons to 5 Stars), an opportunity to help create awareness among citizens and to encourage public entities in terms of "best practices" through the enhancement and promotion of "case studies" of experiences undertaken in these years and continued successfully.
The municipalities that have carried out projects aimed to reduce their ecological footprint can register by October 25th 2009. The categories in which you can compete are: territory management, ecological footprint of the municipal machine, waste, sustainable mobility, new lifestyles.
At the overall winner, which is the Common will have shown that an integrated action across all five categories, it will be a free consultation to start a pilot project of "sweet mobility", aimed at reducing the private traffic and the pollution.
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Think! You are “driving” the future of the planet

by Alessio Sciurpa

Every year more than 650,000 people in China die from diseases related to air pollution (World Health Organisation, 2007).

The main causes of Hong Kong’s air pollution are oil- and coal-fired power stations and vehicle exhaust emissions. Waiting to affect the energy choices of the country, the Gray agency of Hong Kong for Greenpeace, asks us to put the attention on a problem much more tangible: the use of the car, through the images above (click on image to enlarge) to support Car Free Day 2009 campaign. The use of minimal elements to form a more defined concept in environmental communication is not new (see for example our previous post, but the making of it is pleasant and safe impact. A semiotic level, images evoke an emotional connection between the claustrophobic and frustrating feeling that everyone (or almost), we test every morning going to work by car, and the subjects of the campaign.
Further information on the site Climatehero, which is also linked to the "Climate Hero on Campus - Creative Project Competition."

The finalists will have a chance to be the Greenpeace’s representative in the
United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen following a
successful interview. More...

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Breathe! Pollution is closer than you think!

by Alessio Sciurpa

Intresting ambient for this Friends of the Earth campaign, by JWT Hong Kong. The image of the back of a car is printed on the lid, with the straw in place of the exhaust pipe. Two strengths point of the campaign that making it particularly effective: first is that for the collective (wrongly), the most immediate image of "Pollution" are discharges of cars; second is the direct relationship (sorry the word games) between imaginary ambient and real ambient. Infact the lid is ditributed by road-side food stalls. When consumers drink from this cup on the streets, it would be like they were inhaling toxic emissions directly from the vehicle. “Pollution is closer than you think”.

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Grease to Greece 2009: ecological Odyssey

by Eleonora Anello

Departure from the UK and arrive in Greece, but with cars fuelled with exhausted oils only, through an informal network of "filling stations" of fired wastes, from fast food to Chinese restaurants or kebab shops.
This is "Grease to Greece 2009”, second edition of a mad "rush"for cars where the matter is not going fast but to produce low emissions by using low doses of fossil fuel. To determine the winner, it will not be assessed in the ranking the order of arrival in Athens but the ecological footprint produced by the participants.

The creator of the competition is the engineer Andy Pag 35, years old, of London, who in 2007 has gone from Croydon (United Kingdom) to Timbuktu (Mali) crossing the Sahara desert with a truck fueled by chocolate (or, rather, derived from the waste of his production, over 2,000 liters of fuel extracted from four tons of waste factory, starting cocoa butter oil).

This year too, as it has already happened in the edition launch in 2008, the rally aims to attract curious who will approach to new ways of moving, alternatives ways to make the car move in a more ecological and also saving money. A nice and practical way to carry a clear message: "Give grease a chance", namely that prove that cars can go on not only by using oil and that unlike ethanol and other biofuels controversy, the recycled cooking grease is less impact on the planet.
The objective of this campaign out of the schemes is to give impetus to a retail network of kitchen waste that would otherwise end up in landfills or at sea. Grease to Greece wants to engage in a lasting traders that contribute to the project with the donation of their residues, raising a new awareness about the possible alternative uses of their waste production.

The eco-friendly travel is also a convenient way to communicate. A campaign that unites the desire to travel, sustainable tourism and competitive sport in which the pillars of traditional marketing are reversed: the ideas meet the medium and not contrary.
It is used primarily the buzz effect. It triggers a chatter that spreads by itself. A “campaign” that doesn’t want to be monologue but who wants to animate dialogue with those who met their target. The effect is also viral. Once that the user is "engaged", that is involved in first person, it has become a supporter and are active to spread the initiative in an informal and, therefore, more credible because it hasn’t a direct interest but to live in a world that is more attentive to the environment.

In 2008 edition of "Grease to Greece Rally", crews have traveled 2500 miles (4023 kilometers) to Athens, where the British ambassador has gived a prize to winners with the Golden Lard Award.
Who will be the winner of 2009?
Registration are still open: to join it takes a team , a diesel car, a few weeks of holidays ... and so much fat cooking.

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The air we breathe is not all the same

by Alessio Sciurpa

That the air we breathe is not all the same, every day we perceive through our senses, but thanks to lamiaaria.it from today in Italy as in the U.S., you have the possibility to monitor the status of the pollutants contained in the air we breathe.

A completely new in content and objectives project: to provide citizens of all 8100 municipalities in Italy, with a totally free service, the forecast for five days on air quality and both inform and sensitize citizens, so clear and understandable, on an issue that affects the daily life and which too often, is not enough perceived influence on human health. The system is based on Air Quality Index (IQA) developed by EPA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The choice in the U.S. (compared to others such as the French ATMO or the British Air Pollution Index) was suggested by the Italian National Commission for Atmospheric Pollution Emergency (CNEIA) in its document "Air pollution in Italy from fine and impact on health. "
The U.S. IQA is an index created to communicate the daily air quality, because we know what is clean or polluted the air we breathe and what health effects could result, taking into account the impact that might warn a few hours or a few days after breathing.

The site will be officially presented during a press conference scheduled in Rome, for April 16, 2009 at 11 a.m., at the Hotel Nazionale (Cinema Hall) in Piazza Montecitorio 131, which will also Attilio Poli, President of Take Air Ltd., promoters of the project. More...

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